


a blank canvas without you

by Thorsday



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Fluff, M/M, Post-Serum Steve Rogers, Pre-Avengers (2012), Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Thundershield - Freeform, Writing on Skin, to
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-08
Updated: 2019-08-08
Packaged: 2020-08-12 00:27:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20162656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thorsday/pseuds/Thorsday
Summary: “In all your restlessness, you haven’t considered writing to them first?”“Truthfully speaking?” Thor peered sheepishly down at his wrist. “No, it hadn’t crossed my mind. Thank you, Heimdall.”





	a blank canvas without you

**Author's Note:**

> au where whatever you write on your skin, it appears on your soulmate’s skin!! 
> 
> here’s a thundershield oneshot bc i miss this duo
> 
> comments and kudos are always appreciated!!

Thor’s skin has remained unmarked for eons. He’s checked, without fail, every visible inch on a daily basis. 

Loki’s suggestions are, unsurprisingly, pessimistic and _ certainly _ don’t mitigate his qualms. “Perhaps they’re dead” for one. Or, “Have you considered that they’re purposely ignoring you?”

Like a fool, Thor continued to routinely check until _ Heimdall _told him to stop (if only temporarily). 

“I don’t want to miss it,” Thor protested as he rubbed idly at his wrist, eyes glued to the skin there and waiting for even just a small mark. “It can appear at any second.”

“Yes, I’m aware.” Heimdall shifted his all-seeing eyes to Thor and smiled in understanding. “In all your restlessness, you haven’t considered writing to them first?”

“Truthfully speaking?” Thor peered sheepishly down at his wrist. “No, it hadn’t crossed my mind. Thank you, Heimdall.” 

Now Thor was dipping a quill in ink and pondering what to say to his soulmate. It absolutely _ must _ be remarkable in order to leave the perfect first impression.

Maybe a poem? A lyric from his favorite song? Or—Thor’s face crumbled when a droplet of ink plopped onto his wrist. 

Opportunity ruined. 

Almost immediately, the mark faded into nothingness. Thor set the quill aside with a long-suffering sigh. 

He’ll try again someday.

—

The first thing Thor did when he was provided with a Midgardian writing utensil was scrawl on his wrist. 

He flicked his eyes from his lead tornado to Jane’s wrist, expecting the same drawing to emerge. But alas, nothing happened. 

At least it didn’t disappear this time. 

“I hope you find them, then,” Jane said softly to him, the fire emitting a gentle glow about her physique. 

She was beautiful, but she wasn’t his. 

—

Thor was sparring with his companions when it happened.

“Thor!” Fandral exclaimed (while parrying another heavy blow from Thor’s hammer). “Would you look at that!” 

“That old trick won’t work on me,” Thor grunted as he knocked the sword from Fandral’s hand. “A valiant effort, however.” 

“No, really, look!” 

Thor followed Fandral’s eyes and nearly dropped his hammer in shock. 

His soulmate (soulmate!) had drawn an intricate flower—the penmanship was unsteady from lack of use, but it was magnificent nonetheless. 

“Retrieve a quill! Quickly!” Thor shouted to Volstagg, who bolted out of the training room to oblige. Not a second later, he returned with an ink and quill.

With haste, Thor drew a creature he’d seen on Midgard (a rabbit) and wrote underneath: **Greetings! It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.**

His soulmate wrote back in elegant handwriting: _ Hi. Sorry for never getting back to you. I just woke up from a really long nap. _

**It’s quite alright. Are you from Midgard?**

_ From what? _

Thor chuckled lowly at his soulmate’s reaction. **Midgard. I believe your people call it Earth? **

_ Yeah. You’re not from Earth? Are you an alien? _

**I’m from Asgard. Does that make me one? **

_ I don’t know. You tell me. _

Thor was about to elucidate when his soulmate augmented to their previous message: _ Sorry. I’m running out of space and time. I’ll write to you when I get the chance. _

Thor stamped down the feeling of disappointment. They had to leave? And so soon? **I understand. Farewell! **

He didn’t receive a reply. 

—

Thor encountered the man in a blue costume again, deep within the forest (after being mocked by metal man, but no one needed to know that). 

“Hey!” Blue costume man’s voice rang throughout the clearing as he deftly caught his shield, full of authority. “That’s enough. Put that hammer down.”

“You want me to put the hammer down?!” Thor shouted, swinging Mjolnir with all his might. His weapon struck the man’s shield, and a blast reverberated from the combined forces.

He’d never met anyone that rivaled his strength. 

—

Although Thor joined the Avengers to put an end to Loki’s schemes, he found himself drawn to Steve.

The more time he spent with Steve, the more he felt as though he were betraying his soulmate (it was curious how his soulmate never spoke to him whenever he was with Steve, however). 

“Do you have a soulmate?” Steve asked him one night on the balcony, arms braced on the railings and a glass of whiskey dangling loosely from his fingers. “Sorry if that’s so...forward.”

“I don’t mind,” Thor said, taking a sip of his own glass and humming at the burning sensation in his belly. “I do have one. I wish to meet them one of these days.”

“Yeah. Me too.” Steve’s eyes looked so pale beneath the starlight—translucent, even. “Where did you say you were from again?”

“Asgard.” 

“Asgard,” Steve murmured quietly under his breath, and he didn’t say anything for the rest of the night.

—

In the dimness of his room, Thor could distinguish the beginnings of a word on his palm. He smiled besottedly as the words slowly formed to write: _ Here’s another flower. It’s stargazer lily._

Thor felt around for a pen on his bedside table and wrote: **Thank you, it’s lovely. Bored, are you? **

_I can’t sleep._

**I see. Nightmares, I presume? **Thor’s had his fair share of nightmares. 

_ Yeah. Can you distract me? _

**Of course. **

Thor wrote about his many adventures until his soulmate stopped replying. He brushed his fingertips over the last things his soulmate had said to him, before falling into a deep slumber as well.

—

Thor returned to Asgard that morning, completely missing the way Steve’s face fell when he’d informed him of such. 

He was unamused by Loki’s transformation into Steve, and he attempted to remain unfazed by his brother saying, “Are you so infatuated with Midgardians because your soulmate is one?” 

Immediately, problems arose, with Dark Elves and Loki and the Aether and the _ death of his mother_.

Throughout the entirety of the Hel that was his life, his soulmate hadn’t written a single thing. 

Thor was about to set aside his pride and write first when shaky writing appeared on the back of his hand: _ Hi. Sorry I couldn’t get back to you. I fell from a really high place. _

**That’s understandable! Don’t apologize for being injured. I hope you’re alright. **

_ I’m okay now. Thanks for asking. _ There was a long pause before they continued. _ Is it too early to say that I missed you? _

Thor’s heart swelled with joy. **Nonsense! I missed you too. Get well soon!**

_ Thanks. :) _

Thor drew an emoticon that Darcy had taught him: **:D**

He didn’t receive another reply, but somehow he knew that his soulmate was smiling.

—

Thor had been fondly watching a flower (a tulip, according to his soulmate) form on his wrist when Steve joined him on the couch in the lounge room.

His heart leapt into his throat when he realized Steve was drawing on his own wrist, and he said in the most casual way, “Hello, Steve. What are you drawing?” 

Steve didn’t bother to glance up from his doodle. “A tulip. Why?”

“A tulip?” Thor parroted in disbelief, glancing from the tulip on his skin to the identical tulip on Steve’s skin. “A tulip.”

“Yeah?” Steve finally looked up from his drawing to read Thor’s expression, and slowly, as though he had all the time in the world, his eyes fell to Thor’s wrist. “Oh. _ Oh._” 

“Are you disappointed?” Thor asked, even though the words had sounded tiny and awestruck, like he couldn’t believe Thor was his and he was Thor’s. 

“No. Far from it, actually.” Steve quirked the corner of his mouth up into a half-smile and reached over to gently take one of Thor’s hands. “I’m glad it’s you.” 

“I’m relieved,” Thor admitted with a low chuckle, and he didn’t miss the way Steve’s eyes lingered on his mouth. “Can I kiss you?” 

“Do you have to ask?” Steve huffed out a laugh, pleasant to Thor’s ears, and Thor gingerly cradled his _ soulmate’s _jaw to tentatively brush their lips together. 

Steve hadn’t closed his eyes yet. And Thor found that he didn’t want to, either. 

Thor couldn’t recall a time when anyone had _ ever _ looked at him with such complete and absolute joy. 

Steve cupped a hand around the nape of Thor’s neck, deepening the pressure of their mouths, and they kissed in the stillness of the dark. 

—

“Do you have to go?” Steve whispered one night, those irresistible eyes of his a tad forlorn. “Stay with me a little longer.” 

“You know I would if I could.” Thor lifted Steve’s hand and pressed a delicate kiss to his knuckles. “But I must leave. I’ll return as soon as possible.”

“Promise?” Steve shifted closer to tuck his head under Thor’s chin, sighing contently against Thor’s neck and trailing his fingers along Thor’s collarbone. 

“Promise. I’ll write when I have a pen in my possession, if that reassures you,” Thor joked, winding his arms around Steve’s waist and pulling him impossibly closer. “For now, rest, my love.”

Thor didn’t fall asleep until Steve’s breathing evened out. 

—

If Thor thought the situation with the Dark Elves was Hel, this was _ worse_.

In the span of a single day, he’d learned that he had an evil sister, his father was deceased, Mjolnir was destroyed beyond repair, he’d been forced to have a haircut, and no one on Sakaar had a damn pen. 

_ Everything okay? Write back soon. _

Thor dropped his head in his hands and dragged his fingers through his _ short _hair in frustration. “Goddamnit.” 

“Thor sad,” Hulk suspected, to which Thor lifted his head (only to glare venomously at him and snap at him to shut up). 

“Thor sad!” Hulk raised his voice, shoving at Thor’s shoulder and causing him to tumble unceremoniously over onto his side. 

“I’m not sad, you idiot!” Thor, also, raised his voice and lunged to his feet. “I’m pissed off! You don’t have a pen?” 

“No pen.” 

Thor kicked one of Hulk’s items in anger. “You have a jacuzzi but not a pen?!” 

“Stop kick stuff!” Hulk hefted up a shield, of all things, and flung it in Thor’s direction. “Ask angry girl for pen!”

“Valkyrie has one?” Thor asked, hope flaring throughout his being, and he made a mad dash for the door—only to slam directly into a barrier. 

—

It turns out that Valkyrie didn’t have a pen. 

“Why would I?” She tipped her head back to drain the last of her beer. “First you ask for my help, and now this.”

“I know I’m asking for too much.” Thor watched a camellia form on the palm of his hand and curled his fingers inward. “But I need to forward a message. It’s been...too long.”

Valkyrie gestured vaguely to encompass the entirety of him. “Is it your…? Alright, I’ll see what I can do.” 

“Thank you.” Thor smiled genuinely, and Valkyrie looked taken aback by the display of emotions. “I might even upgrade you to leader of the Revengers.”

Thor ignored Hulk’s outraged roar. “Hulk want upgrade!”

—

A miracle happened: somehow, Valkyrie found a pen on this literal trash planet. 

Thor faced his back to his ragtag team and quickly wrote down: **I’ll be seeing you soon, my dear. Wait just a little longer.**

The answer came immediately, as if Steve had been waiting for it: _ And I thought you weren’t actually gonna keep your promise. _

Thor’s eyes crinkled at the corners. **I would never lie to you. **

_ I know you wouldn’t. Here. It’s for you. _

Thor watched a rose form on the inside of his wrist, and he pressed a delicate kiss to the drawing. 

**I love you. Did you know that? **

_I knew that, too. Did you know that roses symbolize love? _

**No. But I do now.**

Thor set down the pen to ask, “Would the Grandmaster happen to have roses?”

—

He settled onto the captain’s chair, taking his place as the king. 

Heimdall said, as if to solidify Thor’s role, “So, King of Asgard.”

Thor casted a brief glance over his shoulder to fully absorb the moment. His people were smiling, bowing humbly to him instead of cheering.

In the crowd, he spotted a small, young boy waving to him. Thor finally smiled and waved back. 

“Where to?”

Thor returned his gaze to the forefront of the ship, watching stars twinkle across the blank canvas of space. 

Somewhere, out there, Steve was waiting for him.

“Earth.”


End file.
